Credit-Score-Scale

The credit score scale is an indicator used by lenders to find out if you are credit worthwhile. This could be from 340 to 850 and also the higher the report, the better off you tend to be.

You can get a copy of one’s credit score scale by permitting a copy from a certified credit agency by giving all of them a call or asking for for one through their website.

These three credit agencies are namely Expedia, Equifax or Transunion and you can get a copy from one or from all of three at the same time or perhaps after a few months.

Majority of Americans get a score 700 or higher on their credit score scale. Sadly, there are a few who score lower. How this is determined is based on 5 elements.

The first is your credit history. This includes the number of financial loans that were approved or perhaps disapproved, your credit card transactions and other financing that you have acquired within the last 2 years.

The creditors will also review when you have had any late payments in the past. When you have always paid this time, then that would be amazing.

Another indicator would be the length of your credit. When you have had this for years, then you have an advantage when compared with someone who is just accumulating their credit. New credit is also a factor together with a hardly any other things that could make the scale go up or down.

If you happen to be overdue in any of them, you have to do whatever it takes to correct this so there will be an improvement in your credit score size.

You can start by reducing your expenses and ultizing the money saved to settle the debt.

For those who have plenty of credit cards, you should repay first the one that has got the highest interest rate next work on the rest. The aim is to be debt free in support of have 2 credit cards left in your wallet.

Worse situation scenario if you dont possess the money is to sell several valuables so you repay it without worrying any longer of the growing amount due to interest.

If you cant handle the situation, get help from a financial advisor. This individual ma help you negotiate with creditors concerning how this problem could be solved.

Only when you might be debt free can your credit score scale actually improve. You should know this is not going to be easy which could take months just before things look better but if you put in effort and time, there is no doubt that you will be in a position to apply for a loan once again.

There are several who say finding a new credit card will help just make sure that this one offers low interest rates and that you just use up to 30% of the maximum limit at times that’s just about right.

The actual credit score scale modifications so it is best to get one annually. It can go down or up depending on your behavior so if you keep your nose clear, there wont be any red flags on your record. You should also remember that occasionally, it is not your fault if it goes down and that’s why you should check if you will find any errors so this can be corrected.

Comments: 38

I am going to try and buy a house in the near future. My credit score is at the bottom of the required number to get a mortgage loan. I have very little “new” credit, some student loans that my first payment is due on later this month, one credit card (zero late payments, but is maxed out, low $500 limit). How fast will my score come up (how many pts in how much time) if I pay down my balance and make all my student loan payments on time? Also, how many points would a credit score drop for a “hard hit”? My score is in the 620’s.

Both personal and small business credit cards would be helpful. Thanks!
I know through personal experience that American Express DOES require a SS# when adding additional cardholders (at least for personal cards), and that Advanta does NOT require a SS# when adding additional cardholders.

I am now 18 and I am about to get my FIRST job so I want to go purchase a used car from the dealer after I save up a little. What would determine my credit score and around what range would it be? I know there are lots of factors that determine it but this is my primary concern.

I got my score from annualcreditreport.com which is the website clark howard recommends. on my report the score scale is from 350 to 950 but a lot of people are telling me that maximum possible score is 850 ? does that mean 950 is just a hypthetical score or have they changed the scale

I am 15 and I used eBay to sell some stuff. They charged me commission on an item of $2.31. I forgot to pay the bill because I did not log in to the account for a while. My account has been suspended.

I am sort of confused with the whole credit score thing like what effects and who keeps track of what I do.

So a few questions,

Could that eBay incident effect my credit score?

I once put a few hundred dollars in a savings account and then eventually took the money out and closed the account, could that effect my credit score in any way?

How is credit score scaled, like if you have never messed with your credit score what would it be at, 0 I presume?

Lastly, What effect my credit score and how at my age can I build it?

Thanks
Oh one more thing:

I recently gathered $1000 of my money and put it in a money market account for Vanguard, the reason I did that is because Vanguard enables you to take that money and invest in the stock market.

Could this effect my credit score?

And while I am at it:
When it comes to never letting a credit car company gain interest on your balance, when do you pay the balance?

Thanks again.
After reading the first answer, who reports and keeps track if I pay may bills on time, do companies that I am paying bills to report it to the government?

And who possesses my credit record?-The government?
After reading the first answer, who reports and keeps track if I pay may bills on time, do companies that I am paying bills to report it to the government?

I hired a lawyer to sort out my financial situation into which I fell into 5 years ago.
It’s a long story but I lost my job and typical HSBC refused to help even though I was ‘’insured’’ – PPI etc.
I now want to buy a flat so I paid for a credit report etc. My credit is 955 which is GOOD however I can’t get anything out there anywhere due to a credit card balance outstanding of GBP1500 ( currently being dealt with)
The thing is, I went to HSBC and asked about the debt I still have on top of the card – I was in minus on my normal HSBC account..they said my account is closed and they have no info on that and who owns that debt now.
Noone ever contacted me regarding this debt, only the credit card. The debt seemed to have disappeared.
IS THIS POSSIBLE?
I checked my credit report and the debt is NOT ON THERE?

I checked my credit score online and it says that its 695 is that possible? Ive never done or taken anything out on credit or nothing of that sort. or is it like when your 18 you start off with a good credit score
?
The thing is i did go on annualcreditreport.com and thats were it came up!

I’m current on all of my payments, no derogatory information, not many hard inquiries.
I have about $24,000 left to pay in student loans
$2600 CL for 1 Credit card…. the balance on that is about $600 which I’m planning to pay off soon.

I just cosigned for CareCredit for my wife, we asked for $8300 and was granted the full amount. She’s going to be using the full amount of $8300 next week… is that going to lower my credit score because of the credit utilization? We’re planning on paying it off within a few months but I’d like to finance sometime soon and worried that the $8300 will not look good on my credit report.

my scores are 647 668 and 630 and the first two are good and the last is between fair and good. I feel good about these cause it has taken me about a year to get them here, but now i want them higher. And I am doing this by getting the debt off and paying on time

I know that it can hurt your credit and raise your interest rate if you charge more than your credit limit.

However, what if you are just under your credit limit and then the credit card company adds their monthly interest fee which puts you over the limit? Is it considered the same thing? Or does the company (Chase) not charge you over-limit fees if it is their interest that put you over?

I pay to check my credit score and all 3 of my credit scores are showing above 600. Im trying to get an FHA loan and the bank checked my credit and my score is averaging 591. Why is this and what can I do to increase this up to 600? My banker and my realtor said this should be an easy fix but haven’t given me any suggestions yet. I’m trying to buy a home soon so I need as much input as I can get. Thanks!

I have a freecreditreport.com account and it only shows me experian score so I signed up for freescore.com today to get my three scores and my experian is 37 points lower on free score than on free credit report both show to be current as of today and both have the same information as far as current accounts balances etc…and history I’m wondering if anyone knows why this is?

My credit score is 550…I had 2 collections accounts and they are closed. I need to get a credit card but no one will approve me. Can anyone tell me a credit card I can get approved for and it will help me rebuild my credit?Thank you

I have excellent credit. I have only had 3 hard credit inquiries on my account in the lifetime of my credit earnings (roughly 10 years). I recently applied for a credit card to finance something through school and to build my credit a little more by paying it off and having another line of credit open. I noticed at first that my credit score went down by 2-3 points and then a couple days later i saw it dropped 15 total. I guess my question is for someone who deals with credit a lot and knows if this is normal or not. I would appreciate any advice on this before I pay a credit company to show me in detail my credit history. Thanks!!

I recently applied for a new cell phone. At the bottom of the page, it says your credit score at the bottom and lists the number. I remember the last time I tried my number was around 200. Its changed now. Is this my real credit score? It says something about Equifax above the score.

When I look it up on TrueCredit by Transunion my credit scores in the 550 range but when I look on Identity Guard they’re in the 510 range? Isn’t that weird? Is it because my TrueCredit report updates more frequently because it’s owned by Transunion or is it that Idenity guard doesn’t know what they’re talking about?
Both TrueCredit and Idntity Guard report from all three of the credit agencies. What I’m saying is that they’re reporting different numbers from the same agencies. For example TrueCredit says my transunion score is 560 while Identity Guard says it’s 510. TrueCredit says my Experian is 552 and Identity Guard says its 506. Get the picture?

I know the basics like if you are making payments on something and you keep them up, it goes up, if not it goes down, same with bills and such, but what is the max score? what is a good score? what score do you start at?
the reason i am asking is because i went to fill out a form for a Best Buy credit card, and I got denied because i had no credit, so my last question is, how do you build your credit?

I’m going to give some details below, my main question is how might paying off and closing an account, as well as closing a paid off credit card affect my credit score. I am definitely about to pay off the first, but debating about closing the second.

I’ll try to give as much info without giving too much personal info:
25 yrs old.
Current scores are 686, 686, 672.
I have 78000 in real estate debt.
11000 in installment debt (2900 of this is an unsecured loan and the rest are school loans which are being deferred until I graduate)
I have two credit card accounts open- one through my main bank, has very low interest and I try to keep low balance on it, the other which is a Lowe’s store card, has zero balance, and only $500 limit which I am considering closing.
I am about to pay the last $87 on a $6300 motorcycle loan I have.

Selling my home to my in-laws and trying to see what my score will be like before I consider buying a larger home.
Any ideas how much my score will be impacted by paying off that motorcycle loan, and would it better to leave the Lowe’s card open or close the account? I only have two revolving credit accounts and that’s one of them, so I didn’t know if it would hurt or help to close it. Thanks!
I appreciate the comments on closing the credit account, but does anyone have an estimate of how many points my score might go up after paying of that motorcycle loan? I think I only paid it off about a month or two early.
I realize paying things off early doesn’t improve score…that’s why it says “only” paid it off about a month or two early…so answerer’s would know it went full course on my credit, lol. Anyway, thanks everyone for the answers!

My fiance and I are staying in a building on my father’s property, with cheap rent, so that we can buy a house quickly. We have been here for a couple months, but have been procrastinating and not really getting much done. So, we only have like 3-4 months before we need to be ready to get the purchasing process started. We planned on building my fiance’s credit while were here, but now we don’t have much time left. (My credit is good, but doesn’t matter, since I am a full time student, and my name won’t be on the loan). His score now is 629. I think we can get a loan with this (like an FHA loan), but we will be very limited on options. We also haven’t saved much yet. My fiance luckily has the option to work overtime at work, so if we buckle now, we could probably have a 10 thousand dollar down payment at the end of our 4 months. Could this possibly off set the fact that his credit score is little low?

I guess my question is, which should we focus on with such a short time period? I think if we started working on his credit score now, it wouldn’t show up on his report by the time we need it to. From what I have read, it seems like it will take 6-9 months for his score to change at all. But I am not sure that is correct, I am definitely not an expert on this stuff.

So, should we focus on trying to raise his credit score, or would that be a waste of time?
Should we solely focus on saving a large down payment?
Will we have a variety of loan options with a credit score of 629, and a large down payment?

We are looking to buy near Conroe, Tx. Anywhere within 30 miles around it. And he was pre-approved about 8 months ago for a 100,000 dollar loan. If any of that makes a difference.

Please only respond if you actually know what you are talking about. Answers from mortgage loan lenders, real estate agents, or any kind of house buying experts would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Ok, as of right now. I have no credit. If I take out a loan or just pay something off to just get credit. What will my score be? As in, 0 being bad credit 100 being good, 50 being none. Getting credit, would I have 51?